Liberals to dole out $2.1-billion to unclog trade, border bottlenecks

“Our customers can always look elsewhere for their needs.”

He pointed to the auto sector, where parts come from both countries and a car crosses the border multiple times before it is sold to consumers.

“That car is as Canadian as it is American, and the process to get it into your driveway keeps people employed on both sides of the border, and so those trade corridors have to keep working too.”

Speaking later with reporters, Garneau played down any suggestion that he was trying to push back against protectionist sentiments from the Trump administration, which is marking its first Independence Day in office and is looking to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement in the coming months.

The $2-billion fund announced Tuesday will go to projects that will have the biggest impact on more easily moving goods and people around the country and over borders. Proponents will be able to provide their proposals by Sept. 5, with funding to start coming out early next year.

Garneau said other projects the government will consider funding are those that mitigate the effects climate change and severe weather might have on transportation routes.

“There will be more projects than there is money and some of it will be laid out over a number of years,” he said during a Q-and-A session.

“We want to go with the most urgent and most important (projects) as early as possible.”

Of that $2 billion, the government plans to set aside $400 million towards transportation in the North, where there are few paved runways that limit what planes can fly in and increasing the costs of everyday goods.

There will also be $50 million set aside over five years to cover the cost of writing new regulations to deal with the proliferation of recreational drones, and self-driving cars that are already being tested. A further $50 million will also go to data collection so that shippers, drivers and transportation officials know where cargo is at any given time, to more easily move goods and identify areas for investments.

The money announced Tuesday is part of $10.1 billion in planned spending over the next 11 years on trade and transportation corridor projects.

About half of that money, $5 billion, will flow to projects through the soon-to-be-created infrastructure bank. The bank will use federal cash to try and leverage private investment to help pay for projects that can generate revenue and provide a profit to private investors.

— Follow @jpress on Twitter.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Liberals to dole out $2.1-billion to unclog trade, border bottlenecks

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